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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25373680">Cheek to Cheek</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rjwritergirl/pseuds/rjwritergirl'>rjwritergirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agent Carter (TV), Captain America - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Bliss, F/M, Fluff, Peggy and Steve are married, They Have Kids</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:13:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25373680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rjwritergirl/pseuds/rjwritergirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten-year-old Pearl Carter gets caught spying on her parent's weekly slow dance.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>45</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cheek to Cheek</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm participating in Steggy Week on Tumblr, Today's prompt was "domestic day". I think technically this could have been posted on outsider day too, but since I have something else written for that day, I decided to post this today. Story title based on the song of the same title by Fred Astaire.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b> <em>Summer: 1967</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>Late one summer Sunday night, ten-year-old Pearl Carter was just drifting to sleep when she heard faint instrumental music. After forcing herself awake, she quietly got out of bed and tiptoed to the stairs. She could hear a thin male voice singing;</p><p>
  <em> Heaven, I'm in heaven<br/>And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak<br/>And I seem to find the happiness I seek....</em>
</p><p>She heard a quiet laugh and Mummy said something quietly downstairs. Pearl smiled as she heard Daddy respond. It didn't matter what he was saying, she felt safe and loved when he spoke, knowing he and Mummy were slow dancing like they did every Sunday.<br/><br/>A creak on the floorboard behind her made her turn. "Micheal!" She put a finger to her mouth in a shushing motion. "<em> They'll hear you</em>," she mouthed.<br/><br/>Micheal sat down next to her, leaning against his sister. "Whatcha doing Pearly?" he asked, not bothering to whisper.<br/><br/>"Listening to Mummy and Daddy dance," Pearl whispered.<br/><br/>"I only hear the song." Micheal's brow furrowed.<br/><br/>Pearl rolled her eyes. Boys were <em>so </em>unromantic. "Listen," she ordered. "You can hear Mummy and Daddy moving around the sitting room. They're not moving much."<br/><br/>Three-year-old Micheal's feelings towards Pearl varied. Those feelings usually landed somewhere between total adoration and complete worship on most days, so even though he didn't see the use, he dutifully listened hard. He could hear Mummy and Daddy's voices, but not what they were saying. He smiled. He was glad that they were home, Mummy had barely gotten home in time for dinner. She always worked a lot at her job making shields.<br/><br/>"It's Mummy and Daddy's special time," Pearl said as there was a piano solo. "They dance every Sunday night."<br/><br/>"Oh, I see," Micheal said, although he clearly didn't.<br/><br/>"That's why Daddy put us to bed on time even though it's summer, so we don't interrupt them," Pearl reasoned.<br/><br/>"Oh."<br/><br/>Pearl fought the urge to roll her eyes again. "Boys just don't understand romance."<br/><br/>"But..." Micheal said, again without whispering, Pearl shushed him and glared.<br/><br/>Downstairs, Peggy and Steve looked to the stairwell as they heard Micheal's squeal. "Your son inherited your spy skills," Peggy murmured. She felt the deep chuckle as she rested her head on her husband's chest. "Pearl's been spying on us almost every week since she was six and this is only the third time I've heard her."<br/><br/>"Pearl, Micheal, do you want to come downstairs?" Steve called to the stairwell.<br/><br/>With a loud whoop, Micheal darted down the stairs at full speed. He jumped off the bottom step into Daddy's arms as Pearl walked down slower. "I was trying to keep him quiet," she said, "so we didn't interrupt your dance."<br/><br/>"It's fine, darling," Daddy reassured gently.<br/><br/>"Come, let's all dance," Mummy invited as she stopped the record and put a new disc in the player. "You're going to need to learn to dance soon anyway, Pearl; you're getting older and there will be dances at school."<br/><br/>Pearl made a face. She didn't want to dance with any of the boys at school! They were weird and awkward! She wanted someone confident-like Daddy.<br/><br/>"And even if you don't go to school dances, it's a good skill to have," Peggy amended, noticing Pearl's furrowed brow.<br/><br/>Pearl shrugged. If it meant she got to stay up late, she'd try to learn to dance. She noticed that the coffee table had been moved closer to the couch to make room.<br/><br/>A slow tune started playing and Mummy moved Pearl into position. "Darling, put your arms around Daddy like this." They got into position and Mummy picked Micheal up. Micheal wrapped his arms around Mummy and lay his head on her shoulder and Mummy started swaying back and forth, one hand rubbing up and down Micheal’s back. "Now, Pearl, side step with your right foot towards me..."<br/><br/>Soon, Pearl and Daddy were doing a simple two-step dance around the sitting room. Pearl accidentally stepped on Daddy's toes and she winced. "Sorry Daddy!" she apologized.<br/><br/>"You have my dancing skills," Daddy laughed.<br/><br/>"But you're good!" Pearl objected.<br/><br/>"Only because Mummy taught me and I've had years of practice." The way Daddy looked at Mummy made Pearl's heart warm.<br/><br/>Micheal's eyes were drooping, but Pearl didn't want to go to bed just yet, so she turned to Daddy. "Is there another dance you can teach me?" She tried not to yawn.<br/><br/>"Let me put him upstairs," Mummy said, "then, I'll teach you the waltz."<br/><br/><br/>Pearl and Daddy continued to practice a version of a waltz as Frank Sinatra crooned. Daddy laughed when Pearl tripped over her own feet. "Let's get some tea," he suggested.<br/><br/>"Like a true Brit, I'm lured by the call for tea," Mummy descended the stairwell without Micheal.<br/><br/>"When did Mummy teach you to dance?" Pearl asked her father.<br/><br/>"It was a few years after the war," Daddy said turning a burner on. "I was declared missing in action, but I found my way home to Mummy and she taught me to dance after I got home."<br/><br/>Pearl hopped up onto the kitchen counter, as Daddy began preparing three cups of tea. As the water heated, Peggy pressed a kiss to Pearl's cheek. Pearl could smell the rose perfume Mummy used.<br/><br/>"Micheal was so full of news at dinner I didn't get the chance to ask how your day at camp went."<br/><br/>Pearl groaned. "Daniel Pierce is in my group at camp. As if I didn't have to put up with him enough at school." Pearl missed the look Steve and Peggy gave each other. "He's so annoying."<br/><br/>The tea kettle whistled and Pearl slid down from the counter as Daddy poured three cups of hot water. Mummy took two of them and Daddy the third. After Mummy prepared one cup of tea, she passed it to Pearl who took it to the table and sat, wrapping her hands around it, like she'd seen Mummy do.<br/><br/>Pearl felt very grown-up sitting with her parents as she sipped her tea. To fight back a yawn, she asked her mother how work was. Mummy seemed amused, but she responded that work was a bit difficult because some men didn't like that a woman had such an important job in Washington.<br/><br/>"But if you're the best person for the job, why does it matter that you're a woman?" Pearl asked.<br/><br/>"Some men think that women shouldn't have jobs. That they should only stay home to raise their children," Mummy said. "They don't like listening to a woman when she gives them suggestions on what the Country should do in Vietnam or Russia."<br/><br/>"Is President Johnson one of those men?" Pearl asked. She'd learned about President Johnson in school that year.<br/><br/>"He did listen to me when I gave suggestions on what I thought we should do in Vietnam," Mummy said. "Whether or not he thinks my suggestions are good ones is another story entirely."<br/><br/>Pearl fought back another yawn, and Daddy spoke up, "Why don't Mummy and I show you the two-step, you can watch on the couch?"<br/><br/>"That sounds good." Pearl finished her tea and set her cup in the sink.<br/><br/>The three of them went to the living room again. This time, Ella Fitzgerald sang as Mummy and Daddy danced around the living room. Pearl blinked hard, trying to stay awake, but finally leaned against the armrest of the couch.<br/><br/>Suddenly, the music was off and Mummy was turning the lights off. The clock in the hall was chiming a late hour. "Come here, oyster." Pearl could feel Daddy picking her up. Pearl wrapped her arms around Steve's neck. Bright moonlight streamed through the windows.<br/><br/>"Not tired," she protested with a wide yawn.<br/><br/>"Of course not," Daddy agreed. "You can just be 'not tired' upstairs, in bed."<br/><br/>"Night Mummy." Pearl yawned as Daddy set her down in bed. She blinked again as she climbed under her covers. Mummy reached for Daddy's hand and Daddy took it as he left Pearl's bedroom.<br/><br/>As she burrowed under the covers, Pearl heard the piano again. She sighed happily and finally drifted off to sleep as she faintly heard the end of the song;<em><br/></em></p><p>
  <em><br/>And I seem to find the happiness I seek...</em>
  <br/>
  <em>When we're out together, dancing cheek to cheek.</em>
</p>
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